


Master of None

by DoreyG



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Awkward Conversations, Community: comment_fic, M/M, Messy Human Beings Alert, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 14:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5669134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoreyG/pseuds/DoreyG
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Okay," Hal snaps eventually, throwing his fork down and fixing him with the kind of glare that can only mean trouble, "are we seriously going to ignore the elephant in the room here?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Master of None

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ohmcgee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmcgee/gifts).



"Okay," Hal snaps eventually, throwing his fork down and fixing him with the kind of glare that can only mean trouble, "are we seriously going to ignore the elephant in the room here?"

They're in a tiny Italian restaurant, several hours after saving the world. Everybody else has left, pleading various excuses such as jobs (Barry, Clark) or a strange fascination with the ocean (Arthur). It's just the two of them and, no matter how good he is, there's nowhere left to hide. He sets down his fork, and sighs lowly through his nose, "I don't know what you mean."

"Yeah," Hal says, in the most insolent tone that he's ever heard, "of course you don't. I mean, who would expect the 'world's greatest detective' to notice something so fucking obvious?"

"Hm," he says, and carefully takes a bite of his dessert. Caramel cheesecake, quite nice - to his surprise, Hal ordered exactly the same thing, "technically that's Sherlock Holmes, not me. And I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, Jordan, do _try_ to be clearer."

"You-" Hal starts hotly, and then grinds to a halt. Closes his eyes, and breathes hotly out through his nose "...Remind me a lot of another dick that I know. Our soulmarks."

"Yes?" He asks politely, and tries to ignore the sudden and unexpected surge of jealousy within him at the mention of that other person. It's ridiculous, after all, he doesn't even know them - he _barely_ even knows Jordan, "what about them?"

"They match," Hal says, like it's blindingly obvious and he's being an idiot about it.

"Do they?" He replies, and takes yet another tiny bite of his cheesecake. He prefers deliberately obtuse, it's far more accurate the vast majority of the time.

"I have a gigantic, and I mean _gigantic_ , bat at the base of my neck," Hal informs him, through teeth so gritted that it's a wonder they don't just snap off. He's never met anybody as easy to rile as Hal, he's already starting to think that he doesn't want to, "you have a green ring, in exactly the same place."

"Jordan..."

"You took off your cowl in front of me," Hal says ruthlessly, staring at him like he expects him to be caught, "you can't pretend I didn't see it."

"I could," he disagrees, delicately, but holds up a hand before Hal can puff himself right up. He knows when to choose his battles, or at least knows when to pretend that he does, "but I won't. I just don't think that it's very relevant."

"Very-?" Hal stares at him. And perhaps he's not as good at pretending as he thinks he is, because the man is just as angry as if he hadn't said a word, "we're _soulmates_."

"Yes," he offers, levelly.

"And you don't think that that's very _relevant_?" Hal throws up his hands, gaze turning a shade disgusted. And it shouldn't get to him, the opinion of a fool like Hal Jordan shouldn't matter one little bit, _but_ , "I mean, fuck, I've never been much of a romantic. But we're _soulmates_ , Bats, bound together by _fate_."

"I've never much believed in fate," he says easily. Or, at least, pretends that it's easily. It's quite hard to summon up his usual level of casual disdain at the inherent chaos of the universe, with Hal staring at him like that, "I regard soulmarks as unimportant physical quirks, about on the level of the colour of our eyes or the shape of our nose."

"I'm soulmates with a robot," Hal says incredulously, stare turning steadily into a glare - the kind of thing that he probably means to be cowing, but that instead just turns out something close to... No, he _can't_ think like that, "are you honestly telling me that you feel _nothing_?"

He stares flatly, hopes that it's a more convincing answer than any he could provide with words.

"No compulsion? No drive? No desperate need to leap across the table and-?"

"It's a physical quirk," he offers. And he desperately wants to believe that his voice is still level, but somewhere along the line a rasp snuck in and just can't be banished, "and any other physical quirks that _may_ come along with it are also irrelevant. It would be illogical to give into them."

"Illogical?" Hal asks, looking at him like he's fighting the urge to punch him in the face, " _illogical_?"

"Listen to yourself, Jordan," he sighs, and gestures between them. Short, businesslike, hopefully conveying a lot while revealing very little about what he actually feels, "we hate each other. How would us being meant for each other be in any way logical?"

There's a long pause.

"You're a piece of work," Hal says bitterly, and rises from the table. Allows the chair to fall behind him, and spins away without a backwards glance, "you know that, Bats? See you next time we have to do the _logical_ thing, and save the world."

It shouldn't feel like a fist in the gut, to see him go, but... He ignores it, takes another bite of his cheesecake and stares levelly into space.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [just my soul responding](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5698936) by [ohmcgee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmcgee/pseuds/ohmcgee)




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